Counting in Japanese
0 to 9999 Basic Numbers The Numbers Which Have Two Reading 0 is commonly called zero (ゼロ). But the formal reading rei (れい/零) is used in decimal fractions, temperature and the name of hours: *0.01: rei''' ten rei ichi'' (れいてんれいいち/零点零一) *0°C: rei'do'' (れいど/零度) *12 o'clock: ''rei'ji (れいじ/零時) 4 and 7 are read as '''''yon and nana respectively.　The alternate readings shi and shichi are used in month names and fixed phrases, and when you count up: *April and July: shi'gatsu (しがつ, 4th month) and shichi'gatsu'' (しちがつ, 7th month) *Counting up to 10, you say ichi, ni, san, ''shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, kyū, jū. Shichi is also used in the name of hours: *7 o'clock: shichi'ji (しちじ) 9 is commonly read as '''''kyū. The alternate reading ku is used in the name of months and hours: *September: ku'gatsu (くがつ, 9th month) *9 o'clock: ku'ji'' (くじ) Formation of Numbers More Than 10 Multiples of 10, 100 and 1000 The Multiples of 10, 100 and 1000 are formed with number from 2 to 9 and -''jū, -''hyaku'' and -''sen. *''Ichi- is not attached to -''jū'', -''hyaku'' and -''sen'' when you say 10, 100 and 1000. They are just jū, hyaku and sen. *A phenomenon called sokuonbin (促音便) and rendaku (連濁) occurs in 300, 600, 800, 3000 and 8000. It changes the final kana of roku (ろく) and hachi (はち) to the following consonants, and "h" of -''hyaku'' and "s" of -''sen'' to "b/p" and "z". Combination of Numbers In large numbers, elements are combined from largest to smallest. Numbers from 11 to 19, 21 to 29, ... and 91 to 99 are formed with mutiples of 10 and number from 1 to 9: e.g. 14 is jū yon (10+4), 23 is nijū san (20+3)　and 57 is gojū nana (50+7). Numbers from 101 to 199, 201 to 299, ... and 901 to 999 are formed with muptiple of 100 and number from 1 to 99: e.g. 104 is hyaku yon (100+4), 235 is nihyaku sanjū go (200+30+5) and 867 is happyaku rokujū nana (800+60+7). Numbers from 1001 to 1999, 2001 to 2999, ... and 9001 to 9999 are formed with multiples of 1000 and number from 1 to 999: e.g. 1051 is sen gojū ichi (1000+50+1), 3006 is sanzen roku (3000+6) and 9999 is kyūsen kyūhyaku kyūjū kyū (9000+900+90+9). 10,000 and More Following Chinese tradition, large numbers are grouped by 10,000. Multiples of Man, Oku and Chō The Multiples of man, oku and chō are formed with number from 1 to 9999 and -''man, -'oku' and -'chō. *''Sokuonbin'' (促音便) phenomenon occurs in 1,000,000,000,000, 8,000,000,000,000 and 10,000,000,000,000. It changes the final kana of ichi (いち), hachi (はち) and jū (じゅう) to "t". *''Ichi''- is attached to -''sen'' multiplying man, oku and chō. In this case, ichi- and -''sen'' are combined into ''issen'' because of sokuonbin phenomenon. Combination of Numbers In numbers more than 10,000, elements are combined from largest to smallest as well as numbers less than 10,000. Numbers from 10,001 to 99,999,999 are formed with mutiples of ''man'' and number from 1 to 9999: e.g. 10,001 is ''ichiman ichi'' (1×''man''+1) and 23,405 is ''niman sanzen yonhyaku go'' (2×''man''+3405). Numbers from 100,000,001 to 999,999,999,999 are formed with muptiple of ''oku'' and number from 1 to 99,999,999: e.g. 34,215,506,879 is ''sanbyaku yonjū nioku issen gohyaku gojūman rokusen happyaku nanajū kyū'' (342×''oku''+1550×''man''+6879). Numbers from 1,000,000,000,001 to 9,999,999,999,999,999 are formed with multiples of ''chō'' and number from 1 to 999,999,999,999: e.g. 519,211,500,000,000 is ''gohyaku jū kyūchō nisen hyaku jū go'oku''' (519×''chō+2115×''oku''). Category:Lessons